“A few days before he died, Steve Jobs asked Tim Cook over to his house to watch a movie together,” Leander Kahney writes for Cult of Mac.
“The movie he selected was Remember the Titans, a football drama starring Denzel Washington. It’s set in the South, and concerns the struggles of integrating a racially mixed team during the civil rights’ era,” Kahney writes. “Cook was surprised by Jobs’ choice of movie — Jobs had little interest in sports — but he said they talked about it afterward.”
“Why would Jobs, who had recently stepped down as Apple CEO and appointed Cook in his place, want to watch this movie with his successor just a few days before he died? Was he trying to pass on some crucial knowledge?” Kahney writes. “I re-watched the movie last night and have a pretty good idea.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: We recommend reading Kahney’s full article. After you do, we think you’ll agree that Jobs, a man with a definite sense of purpose, certainly did not pick that movie to watch with Tim Cook a few days before his death at random.
I think Tim Cook and Steve Jobs may be the most interesting business hand-off in history.
agree
If we were to extend this metaphor, who would be in Hayden Panetiere’s role? She’s on the sidelines, rooting for the team. She’s seeing calls made and how they are played. In other words, she is the constant critic.
The bond between Jobs and Cook is obviously deep and everlasting, Cook has made this very clear and Apple os in the best possible hands with Cook at the helm- Jobs knew this and therefore picked the best qualified peson to succeed him.
Down votes baffle me.
I think some people down vote everything. Sad really. I find nothing in breeze’s posting worthy of a down vote other then the down voter themselves is probably anti Apple and anti Steve Jobs. Probably paid social media manipulators working for Samsung or Google.
Maybe. Just maybe… and I could be totally wrong about this, but maybe Jobs just wanted to see the movie out of curiosity. Maybe he heard that the plot was really good despite his lack of interest in sports. Everything Jobs did does not need a reason. We might as well analyze the last meal that he had. The last drink that he drank, etc. Not everything has a hidden meaning.
i disagree with you. he only has days to live and i’m sure he knew it. what time he had left was priceless. he was not going to just waste some of it watching some old movie. he asked his friend and the man he was handing over the keys to to come over and watch the film for a valuable reason. I’m sure steve had already seen the film.
I have not seen the film myself, but this gives me reason to watch it
Meh
So folks from the fine community at MDN, what movie would you watch on your deathbed?
If that’s the vision, we can make it real.
Oh, 1984, or The Fountain Head, or The Unforgiven, Atlas Shrugged Part 1, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, or maybe a documentary… Occupy Unmasked, or 2016: Obama’s America, or Maafa21…
Thanks Thelonious Mac, I see you are a big Ayn Rand fan. I haven’t seen 1984 since I was a kid, it really scared me. I spent part of the day wondering what movie I’d like to see on my deathbed, but unfortunately it’s still in book form to my knowledge. It’s a toss up for me between Casablanca and Metropolis. Love the old black and white classics.
Actually, if you dig around, you’ll find that 1984 is available for download. I grabbed a copy last year. I believe Russia was the source. (I’d personally take Orwell over Rand any day).
Rather than Metropolis, I might well want to watch Fritz Lang’s other early masterpiece Doctor Mabuse (‘Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler’). ‘I Abuse Myself’ is a constant theme in the contemporary human world. There’s a certain joy in watching the self-destructive get caught in the trap of their own making and go beyond-insane, a self-made karma. It’s a summary of mankind’s behavior during my lifetime.
And Rudolf Klein-Rogge’s acting was brilliant! Anyone who has not seen Doctor Mabuse: Find it on the net. It’s long, but it’s incredible for its time and remains profoundly meaningful. (I believe there were 3 sequels, but not as good as the original).
BTW: The best version of Metropolis I’ve found on the net has a soundtrack created by a group called ‘The New Pollutants’. It’s easily the best effort I’ve heard to score this profound (for its time) movie. The score isn’t filler. It provides an emotional as well as descriptive background to the film that adds to its impact in every scene. I don’t want to have the film interface appear here in the MDN thread, so I’ll simply say to go to YouTube and add to the URL:
/watch?v=Q0NzALRJifI
I’ve watched Metropolis a zillion times. But this soundtrack makes it worth watching again. First time watchers are going to find it very enjoyable. 😀
I’m going to get 1984 and give it a review. I’ve seen a lot of versions of Metropolis, including the last one released that had extra footage found in South America (making it the most complete version released to my knowledge). I also watched a semi colorized version, with modern day music performed by Freddie Mercury, Loverboy, and Adam Ant that was released, ironically enough in 1984.
Always a pleasure Derek.
Cook grew-up in civil rights era Alabama–I’m pretty sure he had some first hand insight/experiences into that period & place (the South). I’m not sure Jobs was comparing he & Cook’s likenesses to the movie’s coaches.
Why watch it with Tim? Steve’s wife hates football. #boom
This was Steve, telling Tim, he could fire Forstall, or anyone else for that matter, if it meant keeping the machine running smoothly. Tim was the CEO and if he had to clean house to make the team work, then that’s what he would HAVE to do. It was a sign for Tim to make his own Apple Inc.